4 ms·

In threads like this, people often bring up gyms as social spaces. Hell. No. I've been using a gym for most of my adult life. Gyms are anti-social spaces. Big

In threads like this, people often bring up gyms as social spaces. Hell. No. I've been using a gym for most of my adult life. Gyms are anti-social spaces. Big box gyms, sports clubs, the gym at the Y, campus gyms, the gyms that most people go to. Maybe boutique gyms and gyms where you always work with a personal trainer are different. Every gym I've been to: hell, no.

OkayPhysicist 3y ago
I don't mean while working out. I mean before, in locker rooms, and after in the sauna or lounge. Those are both spaces where there's an expectation of some level of small talk.
- arrowsmith 3y ago
  Not in any gym I've ever worked out in. Who strikes up a conversation with strangers in a gym locker room? That's not a place where I go for smalltalk; it would be like talking to the other men at the urinals while we're pissing. The best way to meet new people and make new friends, in my experience, isn't to simply be somewhere at a regular time - it's to do something which naturally involves interacting with the other participants. In other words, get a hobby. To give an example: in the last few years I've met and befriended a lot of new people in my area through training in BJJ.
  - datavirtue 3y ago
    "it would be like talking to the other men at the urinals while we're pissing" Doesn't everyone do that?
    - arrowsmith 3y ago
      Hold your peace while you hold your piece.
440hz 3y ago
I have the same opinion. As I said in a comment I made in this thread before, gyms are non-places today. Maybe a CrossFit gym can be a social space because there are workouts that require a partner. It's not enough to go somewhere regularly, you need to be forced to interact with people.
- OkayPhysicist 3y ago
  There's a pretty wide range of gyms. My old gym seems to be more like what you two are talking about, with just a weight room, an aerobics room with treadmills and stairmasters and such, and a locker room with a couple showers. I'm talking about a full-on gym, with all that, various sport courts (racquetball, squash, etc), a locker room with a sauna, steam room, hot tub, etc., and social spaces with a cafe and seating. The former expects you to show up, work out, and get out. The latter is a lot more conducive to loitering.
sharadov 3y ago
Exactly - everyone has their headphones on, no one wants to talk! The only way I made friends at gyms was playing a sport - racquetball in my case, took years. But again - I barely hung out with anyone outside the gym.
bitschubser_ 3y ago
wow... for me gyms (or sports in general) was the #1 place to meet new people, here where I live and in my bubble (germany) it's quite common to spend a few hours in the local boulder gym, or climbing gym, drinking coffee, grep a pizza boulder/climb a bit and small talk, meet friends and new people, same on the local skate park or pump track, hang around, skate, talk, and meet new people, also the sauna/pool areas of some larger gyms are quite social, same goes for the local park, watch the kids at the playground, a coffee is always nearby and plenty of people to talk... and everything in walking or biking distance (I live in a small town)
- blharr 3y ago
  A climbing or sports gym is different than a typical weightlifting gym. I mostly see people doing their sets alone, or running on treadmills and such

OkayPhysicist 3y ago

I don't mean while working out. I mean before, in locker rooms, and after in the sauna or lounge. Those are both spaces where there's an expectation of some level of small talk.

arrowsmith 3y ago
Not in any gym I've ever worked out in. Who strikes up a conversation with strangers in a gym locker room? That's not a place where I go for smalltalk; it would be like talking to the other men at the urinals while we're pissing. The best way to meet new people and make new friends, in my experience, isn't to simply be somewhere at a regular time - it's to do something which naturally involves interacting with the other participants. In other words, get a hobby. To give an example: in the last few years I've met and befriended a lot of new people in my area through training in BJJ.
- datavirtue 3y ago
  "it would be like talking to the other men at the urinals while we're pissing" Doesn't everyone do that?
  - arrowsmith 3y ago
    Hold your peace while you hold your piece.

440hz 3y ago

I have the same opinion. As I said in a comment I made in this thread before, gyms are non-places today. Maybe a CrossFit gym can be a social space because there are workouts that require a partner. It's not enough to go somewhere regularly, you need to be forced to interact with people.

OkayPhysicist 3y ago
There's a pretty wide range of gyms. My old gym seems to be more like what you two are talking about, with just a weight room, an aerobics room with treadmills and stairmasters and such, and a locker room with a couple showers. I'm talking about a full-on gym, with all that, various sport courts (racquetball, squash, etc), a locker room with a sauna, steam room, hot tub, etc., and social spaces with a cafe and seating. The former expects you to show up, work out, and get out. The latter is a lot more conducive to loitering.

sharadov 3y ago

Exactly - everyone has their headphones on, no one wants to talk! The only way I made friends at gyms was playing a sport - racquetball in my case, took years. But again - I barely hung out with anyone outside the gym.

bitschubser_ 3y ago

wow... for me gyms (or sports in general) was the #1 place to meet new people, here where I live and in my bubble (germany) it's quite common to spend a few hours in the local boulder gym, or climbing gym, drinking coffee, grep a pizza boulder/climb a bit and small talk, meet friends and new people, same on the local skate park or pump track, hang around, skate, talk, and meet new people, also the sauna/pool areas of some larger gyms are quite social, same goes for the local park, watch the kids at the playground, a coffee is always nearby and plenty of people to talk... and everything in walking or biking distance (I live in a small town)

blharr 3y ago
A climbing or sports gym is different than a typical weightlifting gym. I mostly see people doing their sets alone, or running on treadmills and such